In a staged appearance on Saturday Night Live, Madonna attacked Gaga in a Deep House Dish musical skit with Kenan Thompson and Andy Samberg. Some found it funny, but the whole deal reminded me of Diana Falzones’s editorial on The Huffington Post – The Lost Art of Being a Lady.
Madonna, who is already known for her hot temper, delivered Gaga a beautifully wrapped PR gift when she “interrupted” her performance, starting to pull Gaga’s wig and yelling “What the hell is a disco stick?” This girls gone wildperformance is what can be seen as the essence of today’s pop culture female icon. Both Madonna and Lady Gaga know how to capitalize on a need that makes them forget sometimes that being in the spotlight at whatever cost is not the best approach to stardom.
What was wrong with Madonna suddenly attacking Gaga and why is this a PR gift? Well, if Perez Hilton (perezhilton.com) read between the lines, so should you: “The Queen of Pop has acknowledged that there’s a new Princess of Pop and she’s officially passing on the torch!”
If you think about it, as skilled, talented and beautiful as Madonna is, she indirectly admitted defeat, and her lines were far from being witty. Two quotes got the attention of the media: “What the hell is a disco stick?” and “What kind of a name is Gaga? Sounds like baby food.” What got my attention though were Gaga’s “The kind that’s No. 1 on the Billboard charts” response to the name question and the “Guess what Madonna, I’m totally hotter than you” taunt that left Madonna almost speechless – the “Hey guess what, I’m taller than you” response failed to counterattack Gaga’s wittiness. Touché! Based on Gaga’s performance in the show, Gaga’s statements are far from being overrated. All that’s left for Madonna, at the end of the day, is the weak consolation of being taller…
This display of “wits” still takes me back to Falzone’s editorial. Both these divas, if we can call them that after watching their performance on the Saturday Night Late show, are the antithesis of a lady, and the author of the sketch doesn’t mind capitalizing on this.
“We seem to forget that through certain actions like fist-fighting, screaming, and promiscuity we are perpetuating the misogynistic myth that being a today’s woman means embracing your sexuality in a vulgar and explicit way, nor do we have to leave our etiquette at the door.” – Falzone wrote in her editorial back in March this year. I wonder if Madonna and Gaga ever read, but then again, they don’t want to be ladies. All that matters for these two tremendous talented women seems to be the spotlight, at whatever cost. They will be remembered, of course – the art of being a lady is lost in this type of show biz. Fortunately we still have some living examples of ladies to look up to – but about them, another time.